Will Pakistan afford to set a new tradition of conducting polls on the same day.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan in an arduous economic path, struggling to avoid 'default' with inflation at 31.5 percent breaking five decades record, is set to experience a new tradition of not conducting elections on the same day.

The county, following the recent verdict by the apex court of holding elections in two provinces [Punjab and KP], is all set to witness a new experience which had never been witnessed in the country's history.

President Arif Alvi, over the proposal of the top electoral body [ECP], has rushed to announce April 30 as the date for holding the elections of the Provincial Assembly in the Punjab. The date for holding polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KPK] will also be decided in the current month [March].

The experts in the top electoral watchdog, talking with this scribe, shared three aspects of conducting polls on different dates in the country. The country has to bear around 40 billion expenditures in the form of conducting polls on different dates as separate security arrangements, printing of voter lists, etc, experts claimed sharing the expenditure for holding elections. Likewise, the twice de-limitation, considering it a constitutional anomaly, due to different dates of election could create fiasco for the first time in the country.

It is also feared that 'fair play' in the polls might compromise when the elections would be conducted for the second time for the National Assembly (NA) seats in the same constituencies.

Though the President has formally initiated important steps for elections in the country by announcing the date, yet the ruling party [PML-N] stalwarts have started arguing against conducting polls on different dates. Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, talking to private media, hinted that conducting elections on different dates will definitely put extra burden over the country's economy.

PML-N's main players Shahid Khaqan Abbasi , Ayaz Sadiq and others have also openly commented that the country cannot afford conducting the polls on the same day. PTI Chairman Imran Khan, in his recent media talk, has now come up with a new demand from the PDM's government to announce general elections to avoid ongoing political chaos in...